KAU says ciao to Italy in World Series

21st Century Media photo by Tony Consiglio
Joe Zirolli, at left, watches from the dugout with his KAU Kings teammates in the bottom of the third inning during a game with the Europe and Africa champions from Emilia, Italy, on Monday morning in Bangor, Maine. With their 11-1 win, the Kings became the first team to win two games in the 2013 Senior League World Series.

BANGOR, Maine — The KAU Kings were the first team to play two games in the Senior League World Series. After defeating the Europe and Africa champions from Emilia, Italy, on Monday morning, they were also the first team with two wins.

KAU earned the victory by a score of 11-1 after just five innings. It marked the first time in the 2013 series that a team won by mercy rule.

The Kings wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, picking up three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Drew Jarmuz led off with a single, and Eric Duerr brought him home on a double two batters later. Eric Takoushian and Dan Garver also added RBI singles.

Jarmuz led off the bottom of the second with another single and scored on a base hit by Tucker Reese with two outs, giving KAU a 4-0 lead through two.

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The big inning was the third, when the first five batters all reached and scored. Duerr, who had four RBI in the game, drove in three with a bases-clearing double.

“I’m just seeing the ball well,” Duerr said. “They’ve been giving me a bunch of fastballs, and I wasn’t missing them. They gave me one sort of up and down the middle and I kind of just turned on it and put it down the left field line.”

The Kings were held scoreless only in the fourth inning and ended the game in the fifth with two more runs.

KAU finished the game with 11 runs on 15 hits. They were led offensively by Jarmuz, who went 4-for-4 with three runs, and Reese, who went 3-for-3.

“They just moved me to the leadoff spot,” Jamuz said. “I was usually batting two or three the whole season, and now I’m just trying to put something in play, not strike out as much, just get walks, work the count.”

“I’m hitting five,” Reese added, “and it’s my job to back up Joe (Zirolli) and make them try to pitch to him, try and be dangerous beneath him. I had a few two-out situations where I had to make something happen. I was just trying to put the ball in play and put us in position to score some runs.”

With as many runs as KAU scored, the team didn’t need them all. Alex Pechin and Ryan Barrett were excellent on the mound, allowing just one run on two hits. Italy didn’t record its first hit until the fifth.

That, and the Kings’ defense, is what manager Todd Duerr said holds the key to their success in this tournament.

“What I’m most impressed with is the calmness we have on the field,” Duerr said. “We had one or two errors over the last couple games, but we’ve been turning double plays. And I think everybody can recognize at this level that you need to generate runs, but defense is going to win it. So, I’m really happy with the way our defense is playing.”

Meanwhile, the players are making sure to not get too comfortable now that they’ve won their first two games.

“We’ve been dealing with that all summer, just trying to stay focused,” Reese said. “Go one game at a time, try and keep moving. Because if you lose your focus from one game, then you’re in trouble real quick in these kind of tournaments.”

KAU will be back on the field this afternoon, taking on the U.S. Central region representative from Clear Ridge Little League in Chicago. Clear Ridge lost its first game in 6-0 shutout with the Latin American team from Panama.